On July 29, Israeli settler Yinon Levi entered the Palestinian village of Umm al-Kheir in the South Hebron Hills with a bulldozer to carry out infrastructure work between homes in the village. Several residents attempted to stop the work. Levi opened fire, killing Odeh Hadalin, a father of three, schoolteacher and peace activist. The bulldozer seriously injured another Palestinian.
1. זה ינון לוי. הבעלים של המאחז “חוות מיתרים”. לפי עדי ראיה, הוא זה שירה למוות בעוודה הדאלין, אב ל-3, מורה ופעיל שלום, אתמול בכפר אום אלח’יר. פלסטיני נוסף נפצע קשה ממכת בולדוזר.
אבל רגע, מה ינון עשה עם בולדוזר בלב כפר פלסטיני?
הסיפור הוא תמצית המדיניות הישראלית.
תהיו איתי:
…/2 pic.twitter.com/dRYZT76d0r— Hagit Ofran חגית עופרן (@hagitofran) July 29, 2025
Peace Now: “This shocking and outrageous event is not the result of a lone violent settler who disregards Palestinian lives, but rather the outcome of a longstanding and organized Israeli policy. According to this policy, violent settlers harass and expel Palestinians from their homes; the state finances their infrastructure; the army provides protection; and the police avoid investigation and prosecution. This violence has already led to the expulsion of dozens of Palestinian communities and the displacement of thousands. We have reached a new moral low, where Palestinians under Israeli control are left entirely defenseless against violent Israeli gangs.”
Harassment and Land Seizure in the Heart of a Palestinian Village
The bulldozer work is part of an ongoing pattern of harassment by settlers in the area targeting the residents of Umm al-Kheir. The village is home to around 200 Bedouin residents, originally from the Negev. Their families were displaced from their land after 1948 and later moved to the South Hebron Hills, where they purchased land and settled in the Masafer Yatta region. In the 1980s, Israel declared roughly 4,000 dunams in the area as state land and established the settlement of Carmel nearby.
The Israeli authorities in the occupied territories do not recognize Umm al-Kheir as a legal residential area. The state refuses to issue building permits and considers all structures in the village “illegal.” According to OCHA (the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), Israel has demolished 56 structures in the village over the past 15 years—14 of them in just the past year and a half. But official demolitions and the denial of basic infrastructure are not the only hardships the residents face.
In recent months, settlers have repeatedly entered the village. In February, they held a large tree-planting event adjacent to residents’ homes. Later, they placed a trailer and picnic table about 40 meters from the village. One settler, Shimon Atiya, repeatedly entered the yard of a local family to harass and intimidate them. Two weeks ago, a Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court issued a restraining order against him, barring him from approaching the family’s home.
Yesterday, settler Yinon Levi, a contractor specializing in earthworks, arrived with a bulldozer and began working near the homes. Levi established the illegal outpost “Meitarim Farm” several years ago, which has been linked to the displacement of several Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills. His actions have led to international sanctions against him.
When Hadalin saw the bulldozer at work, he and others went out to try to stop it. During the ensuing confrontation, Levi shot and killed Hadalin who was standing, according to eye witnesses 35 meters away from him. Another Palestinian standing nearby was injured by the bulldozer when the driver continued working despite the presence of people on the ground.
Hadalin’s last WhatsApp message was a desperate plea for help: “The settlers are working behind the houses and trying to cut our water line… if that happens, our community won’t have a single drop of water.”
